AI Agents in Business Central: Where Microsoft Is Heading in 2026

BC TechDays is the community conference for Business Central, held in Antwerp and run by mibuso.com since 2011. It is independent of Microsoft. The 2026 presentations and the opening keynote are available online, and the next edition is on 17 and 18 June 2027.

This post sets out what Microsoft itself says about AI agents in Business Central, and what UK finance teams should do about it.

Key PointAgents work inside Business Central with the permissions you give them. Clean data and tight permissions come first.

Microsoft's direction: agents

Microsoft's 2026 release wave 1 plan calls the expansion of AI-powered agents a key focus. It says agents operate inside the Business Central environment, and in finance they support payables and expenses with document interpretation, categorisation and approval workflows.

Agents you can use today

• Sales Order Agent. Microsoft's Sales Order Agent reads customer emails, creates a sales quote and, once confirmed, an order. A designated user reviews and approves every outgoing message before it is sent.
• Payables Agent. The Payables Agent reads vendor invoices from a mailbox and drafts purchase invoices for review.

Both agents work within the permissions and profile an administrator gives them. Both use Copilot Credits, which can incur charges, so set up billing before you switch one on.

Pro TipCheck how Copilot Credits are billed for your environment before you activate any agent.

Building your own agents

For developers and partners, the Business Central MCP server lets AI clients such as Copilot Studio and Visual Studio Code work with Business Central data. It is read-only by default; administrators choose what an agent may create, change or delete, and every action runs with the user's own permissions.

What UK finance teams should do now

Agents depend on the data and setup they work with. The Sales Order Agent, for example, finds customers by the email address on their contact card, and Microsoft notes that better item descriptions and attributes improve how well it finds products.

• clean up contact emails, item descriptions and vendor records;
• review permissions, so an agent cannot do more than its job needs;
• pick one process, such as supplier invoices, and trial an agent there first.

Watch OutAn agent that can post or send needs a person reviewing its work. Keep the review steps switched on while you build trust.

Our article on Copilot for finance and our summary of 2026 release wave 1 go further. For independent guidance, see the ICAEW technology resources. To review your setup before you try an agent, start with our free Business Central review or see our Business Central services.